Stockton borton



(No Model.)

S. BURTON. SEAM FOR CUT KNIT GrODS.

No. 525,044. Patented Aug. 28, 1894.

il F719.: 4.

WIZ'VESSES v adi/orneys,

l y UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

STOCKTON BORTON, OF BROOKLYN, AS-SIGNOR TO THE WILLCOX & GIBBS SEWING MACHINE COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

sEAM FoncuT KNIT eooos.

SPECIFICATION. forming part of Letters Patent No. 525,044, dated August 28, 1894. Application tiled January 6, 1894'. Serial 110.4951985. (Specimens.)

To all whom t may concern: t

Beit known that I, SrocKToN BoEroN, of Brooklyn, New York,have invented a new and useful Improvement in Scams for Cut l Knit Goods and other Articles, which is fully set forth in the following specification.

Thisinvention relates to seams for uniting two pieces of fabric, and is of special utility in the manufacture of cut knit goods. A In this 1o manufacture the results most desirable to realize are strength of seam, neatness in finish and appearance, and minimum discomfort to the wearer of the article. For the sake of neatness and ease in wearing it is desirable to trim the goods as close as possible to the line of stitching reducing the welt or ridge to the smallest possible width; but in so doing the strength of the seam may be impaired, inasmuch as cut knit goods have a decided tendency to ravel, and the stitches easily pull out, if placed too near a cut edge. tempt to overcome the difculties presented in the manufacture of cut knit goods and to realize results referred to, many methods of 2 5 procedure, peculiar forms of seams, and machines of special construction have been contrived. j

The present invention relates particularly to what is known as an overedge or overlock seam, formed by machines having overedge stitching devices and a trimming attachment. Such seams have the requisite strength, and the raveling of the cut threads of the fabric is prevented by the loops of thread passing around and binding the edge. Machines for producing seams of this character are described yin Letters-Patent Nos. 472,094` and 472,095, granted to the Willcox do Gibbs Sewing Machine Company April 5, 1892. Goods made upon machines of this and similar types have at the seams ribs or welts equal in width to the length of the loops of the covering thread, and these ribs or welts project about at right angles to the surface of the goods According to the present invention the int convenience attending, the `presence of the projecting welt is largely diminished by fold ing it over or flattening it against the surface 5o of the goods, and holding it in that position In the at-` and on the inside or wrong side of the article.`

by'a line of straight ahead stitches passing through the welt andthe body of the goods between the line of stitches ofthe overedge seam and the edge of the welt, or by means of Zig-zag stitches passing preferably through 5 5 the welt and body of the goods and outside of the welt through the body of the goods only, thus binding down the edge of the welt. This operation produces a seam that is distinctive in appearance, of great strength, and whose 6o presence causes little or no discomfort to the wearer of the article. When an over-edge seam is iiattened against the fabric as stated above, the effect is somewhat different from that of similarly Iiattening the surplus edges or margins of fabric projecting beyond an ordinary seam. This dierence is due to the fact that in the latter case the extreme edges of the fabric are not joined, whereas in the former case there is in reality no projecting 7o margin beyond the seam, and the portions of the two pieces of fabric inclosed within the loops of the sewing thread, are bound together and cannot move relatively to each other. Consequently, in folding down the rib or welt of an overseam, it will be found that the piece of goods against which it is folded is bent upon itself inside the seam, while the opposite piece is deiected only slightly from the plane ofthe body of the piece. When the 8o welt in this position is sewed to the goods, as herein explained, the bend just referred to forms a ridge or shoulder raised above, the plane of the goods on the right side of the fabric. This shoulder with the line of stitching'along it, gives the seam a distinctive appearance, but its practical importance lies in the fact that the extra thickness, due to the presence of the seam, is now partly on the right side of the fabric instead of wholly on 9o the wrong side.

thus automatically guided and .the proper.lo.

cation of the stitches insured Without special care on the part of the operator, and it will be observed that in this operation the shoulder or ridge 'above referred -to performs an' The welt is of suchA important function. character that it may, if desired, be left on the outside of the garment. In thatcase, the seam inside or nextthe wearer is practically flat, and the Vholding stitches on the outside forms a neat nish for the seam.

The invention 'will be more fully understood .from the following detailed description,

reference being had to the accompanying.

drawings, in Whichp lFlgure 1 is a plan viewshowing the appearance ofthe improved seam on the lunder side.

of 'thelgoo'd's Fig, 2 is a similar view'sliowing the upper or outsideof the goods. Fig. 3 is a section in a plane vtransverse Vto the seam. Fig. 4 is a sectional view illustrating the sewing down of the welt Withthe goods so disposed-that the Welt is underneath, and

Fig.. 5 is va .similar view with the goods .refversed. Fig. 6 is a View similar to Figll showing the lWelt held down by meansof zig-.zag stitches.

`In yall the drawings the parts illustrated are Vmuch. enlarged.

`Thetwo`piec`es of fabric at ando arerepre- 'sented as united byadouble-thread overlook seam such aspro'duced by the mechanism described in 'Letters-Patent No. 47 2,095, above referred to. vIn this form of Vstitch one of .the threads c extends in loops from Vailine Within fandparallel-with the edge to and beyondthe latter, being interlocked as shown with the loops ofthe otherv thread d at the'` edge p vof 'the welt. The portions ofthe twopieces a, b embraced .by these twosets of loops constitute 'the welt, which ordinarily stands outlpractically at right angles to the fabric.

jf represents the line of straight ahead stitches by which the Welt is held flat against the goods, these stitches being preferably (as represented in Figs. '1- and 2) such as formed bya single-thread chain-stitch machine. 'For iknit-goods this form of stitch vis preferred on account of its elasticity andthe rapidity with whichit can be made.I The stitches fpass through the welt and through the piece `b drawing and. holding the latter against the former. Besides iiatteningthe seamthey obviously-contribute to its strength and serve more'firmly to anchor the loops c and d tothe fabric. The intersection of thestitches with Atheloops cY is clearly shown in Fig-l. When the weltis flattened and held downas shown in Figs. 3, 4 and 5, the piece b against which it is folded, becomes bent upon itself forming a shoulder g upon the right side of the goods, While the piece a is but slightly deflected. It results that the bulge dueto the presence Yof .fthe welt is' now in great-part upon the -right @sideofithe'goods and that the under surface is more nearly even. It will thus be seen that the approach to ilatness or evenness of the 'under-surface is due not merely to bending `over of the Welt .from its perpendicular position, but also to the fact that when folded and lsecureit asfaboveldescribed,'the welt raises a land expeditiously. The operation of flattening andsecnringthe welt, asfit hasbeen practically carried out by me, will lbennderstood '-by reference to ",Figsf4 and. 5. In these fig-- .ures 'h represents apresser-foot whichhas in its under surfacela lgrooveor depression extending from en d to end of thefoot .in the "line of seam. 'This ,groove `is .ratchet shape in cross-section theapex offtheang'le'fin the vfoot-.being rounded. The side z'. of .the groove is inclined slightly lfrom the plane vof the Work-plate, While the. sidekis .nearly vertical. The position of the vneedle-hole m isshown in dotted lines.

The Workisintroducedunder theffoot in the ymanner lshown .in Fig. .4. or as shown in Fig. 5. InFig. 4 the goods are sewediwith the Welt un'derrnost. The ridge or shoulder g formedbytheben'd inpiece'b abuts ,against ltheedge k of the groove which thereby determines the `positionof the line of stitches-f.

:The Work is flattenedbetwee'n the foot Aon .one

side h and the Work-plate n and feed-surface 0 onthe other,.and .as the latteradvances the work, pressing it at :the same time, against the presser-foot,.the inclined surface t of the -latter tends to .crowd the .goods .towardthe right, 'thus keeping the ridge g Iin contact with the guiding edge k. The-proper guiding .of the fabric is .th us. insu redby tfheaid of the ridgeor shoulder whichis raised by thetlatteni-ngofthe welt. Theposition of the fabric mmay 4be reversed as shoWnin Fig. 5 with Aequally-good `results in operation. In ythat case the Aedge of the `welt/engages withand is guided lby the edge .k of .the groove.

flnasm'uch as the seaxn may beproduced by vothermeans -than those just described, these the example shown, are placed alternately through the welt and body of the goods, and outside the welt through the goods only.

Having now fully described my said inven- 5 tionfwhat I claim is The eombinatiomwith two pieces of fabric, of a series of overedge loops or stitches, uniting them and forming a welt, and aline of holding stitches passing through the welt and Io through one of said pieces and intersecting the-first named loopsor stitches, substantially asv described.

In testimony whereof I 'have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.` i r sTooKToN BoRToN.

Witnesses:

CHAS. H. WILLooX, S. A, SWART. 

